LILIACEiE. 217 



. Section IV.— MOLIUM. Don. 



Destitute of an elongated creeping rhizome. Bulbs subsolitary or 

 more rarely aggregated, globular or elongate. Stem leafless, from the 

 leafstalk not investing it for any distance above the surface of the 

 ground (or verj^ rarely with the base of the petiole sheathing it) ; 

 occasionally the petiole or the upper portion of it is free and the lamina 

 broad, and in all cases not fistulose. Perianth leaves often spreading, 

 more rarely comiivent in a wide cup or funnelshaped beU. Filaments 

 simple, subulate, not monadelphous, entire. Spathe 1- or 2-valved, 

 without a foliaceous beak. 



SPECIES Vn.-AL LIU M TRIQUETRUM. Linn. 



Plate MDXXXIX. 



Reich. Ic.Fl. Germ, et Helv. Vol. X. Tab. Dili. Fig. 1101. 

 Billot, Fl. Gall, et Germ. Exsicc. No. 862. 



No rhizome ; bulb at the time of flowering usually ( ?) solitary, 

 consisting of a single large spherical offset at one side of the flowerino- 

 stem, enclosed in a thick almost crustaceous opaque white coat, and 

 producing at its base sevei'al globular bulbules about the size of cur- 

 rants. Leaves sheathing the stem only beneath the ground, ■\vithout 

 any distinct petiole above the sheath, linear, parallel-sided, channelled, 

 sharply keeled, at length recurved, pale green. Scape triquetrous, 

 naked. Spathe 2-valved, lanceolate-fusiform, gradually acuminated 

 towards the apex, wholly scarious. Flowers rather few, drooping in 

 a lax somewhat unilateral umbrella-shaped umbel -nath long pedicels, 

 destitute of head-bulbules. Perianth leaves connivent below, combined 

 into a funnelshaped bell, recurved at the apex when in flower, strap- 

 shaped-oblong, subacute, white with a green midrib. Stamens included, 

 much shorter than the perianth ; filaments all simple, linear, adhering 

 to the bases of the perianth segments. Capsule about as long as 

 broad, bluntly trigonous. Seeds 2 in each cell. 



On hedgebanks and in meadows. Apparently confined to the island 

 of Guernsey, where it is said to be not uncommon in damp shady situ- 

 ations, in the parishes of Catel Forest and St. Martin. The only 

 place where I observed it in the island was in a hedge at the north 

 end of Vazon Bay, near the station for Centaurea aspera. Specimens 

 were sent to the Botanical Society of London by the late Mr. J. 

 Banker of Devonport, with the locality " Isle of Dogs, May, 1852 ; " but 

 if it really occurred there, it must have been casually introduced, as 



VOL. IX. r F 



